Stop Losing the Same Pounds
It has been said that only 20% of people who try to lose weight will be successful at maintaining their weight loss. One would think that with all of the “diet plans” and “diet pills” that are out there, there should be no problem with maintaining a healthy weight. Take a look around for one day and observe how many people you come across that are overweight. At the end of the day assess the outcome. Then ask yourself, “Do all of those diet plans and pills work?” One would have to believe the answer is no. Why do people have such a hard time losing weight? How many times have you seen someone that has lost 20 pounds regain the weight they have lost in a year? Why do people finally give up and go back to their old eating habits? I believe that people get discouraged afters years of losing the same pounds. Change your old habits and live a healthy lifestyle. Stop losing the same pounds.
Step One
Step one is to realize that if it sounds too good to be true, then it is something you want to stay away from. Sure, it would be nice to lose 20 pounds and have six pack abs for the summer in only 3 weeks. Is this going to happen? Not with fad diets or diet pills. Will that diet plan or pills sell? Yes! And that company will make a large profit off of people who what to see results fast. Next summer there will be a new diet plan that will guarantee the same results but with a different name. Since the last one did not work the same people will be buying the new product. After years of this endless cycle they will finally give up. They will justify it with, “my body was made for being fat.” They will say, “I have tried everything and it does not work” or, “I can not stop losing the same pounds.”
You need to accept that there is no diet plan or pill that will have you take off the pounds you want and be able to maintain your new weight. Once you accept this, you are on the right path to reach your weight loss goals.
Step Two
Accept change. Obviously if you are over weight, you need to change your eating habits and activity level. Change is not easy to do. Change will not happen if you do not start to change from your old habits. Stop thinking about it and start now. There is no reason to start tomorrow, or Monday or next month. You have a goal to achieve.
Once you have started this change you are breaking old habits. After a period of time these changes will become your new habits. They will become a part of your new lifestyle. You will not have to think about it on a regular basis, it will just come naturally, just like the habits you have today. I am sure that you do not think about having a bag of chips with your sandwich all day long. At lunch time you just grab your sandwich and a bag of chips and eat. It’s a habit that you have created. Now it is time to create a new habit that will give you great health benefits.
Step 3
Be patient. We as a society look for instant gratification. Weight loss is a slow process. It is recommended to not lose more than 1-2 pounds a week. Weight loss can come from water, lean body mass and fat. Fat is the only weight loss you want to lose. One of the reasons fad diets fail is due to the fact that lean body mass is lost. When this happens the metabolism will decline. The body is now burning less calories. Once you are off the diet and consuming more calories your body will store the excess as fat. The body will have a higher fat percentage than it did prior to the fad diet when you reach the weight that you first started at. This cycle continues with each fad diet creating great health risks.
Take a look at the whole picture. If you lose 1 pound a week while maintaining your lean body mass, you will lose 52 pounds in a year. Do you even have that much weight to lose? While losing this weight from fat you should strive to maintain or build lean muscle mass. Muscle tissue requires a great deal of energy throughout the day. This boosts up the metabolism. With a higher metabolism you can eat more while burning fat for fuel. After a year you will be eating more, weighing less and you have more energy.
Step 4
Start today. One year will pass by before you even know it. Starting today and not dwelling on how you want to look tomorrow will have you living a healthier lifestyle. A year will pass by and people that you come across will be stopping you and asking how did you do it. Eating healthy and staying active has been proven to work time and time again. Start enjoying your life and take control of your health and weight. Stop losing the same pounds.
Learn how the body works and uses food for fuel. There is a science on when to eat certain foods for better performance. Knowledge is power. The more that you learn, the healthier you will become. You will never have to worry about losing the same pounds again.
Best of health and happiness,
Dave Nevue
